Halfway House Time (by Freckles)

Another great Freckles adventure:

How much half way house time does one get? And does this time include my calculated home confinement? This is a question that seems to have no answer. The BOP has a strict policy on home confinement and an exact calculation of "10% of your sentence, not to exceed 6 months" - so that's the no brainer part of the equation. And before I go into the half way house time, no they do not budge on your home confinement date - there was a lot of "inmate dot com" buzz while I was in Carswell about how the HH will release you within 72 hours if you do this, or you can get home early if you do that. Well, hate to burst the bubble, but probably won't happen. Yes I asked, yes we went to BOP, nope was not allowed....and it also seems to be the "norm" that the institution includes the HC time with the HH time they give you. I will use an easy math calculation with a sentence of 30 months - you will get 3 months HC and when they tell you you're getting 9 months HH - you are really only getting 6 HH and 3 HC to equal the 9. So don't think you'll get 9 plus the 3 which is 12. That's probably how it's suppose to be - but again, even the policy is "vague" enough so nothing is concrete and in writing to help the inmates advocate for themselves.

How much HH time is "normal"? Well, with BOP as you will learn there is no normal and there is no standard as to how this is done. I've just reached my 7 month mark of being at the half way house and am on my last month. I have seen so many people come and go - with such a variety of HH lengths. There have been people that were there when I got there and will be released after I leave - these people got 12 months. Most of these people did the RDAP drug program. There are people that even did the program that only got 6 months or less. And in the case where the person got the "or less" - they had to extend out her "max date" so she could complete the 6 month TDAT program. What a shocking surprise to her when her max out and HC date switched - she wasn't notified until she met her case manager at the HH, the institution gave her a HC date of March "no matter what" they said, but in reality with her max date being extended, her HC date will be May. Not a happy camper. But I was also in the program with people that did not have their HH extended to the 6 months to complete the TDAT program - so again, I think this is done on a case by case basis and believe it or not you have a lot to do with how they handle your situation - so as one CO always said "stay under the radar".

So as you advocate for your HH time - know that 12 months can be given and it is given, but tread a fine line when advocating, you can push them "over the edge" which can result in disaster for you. When I was at Carswell even people in the program were only getting 6 months - that was just what Carswell did I was told. They would not ask for more nor would they allow you to even challenge or talk to the warden when you wondered why? Frosty for example was at a men's prison and when he challenged the 6 months and did talk to the warden it almost ended in disaster. The warden approached the person who was dealing with Frosty and said that it's the warden's decision to decide if someone should get more HH time. Well, next time Frosty met with him he was told that "his paperwork could get delayed" ultimately resulting in little to no HH time - so as always, they beat to their own drum. In my case I had to be my own advocate. You need to start pressing the issue - I started when I entered my 2nd phase in RDAP - and was about a year out from my HC date. Needless to say - it was a huge run around, my case load was transferred, but in the end they did ask for 9 months (a July release right after graduation) and I ended up getting an August release which gave me just under 8 months (odd number of days) - which I'll take. I think mine had something to do with my "time served" - it was very coincidental that I left the institution on exactly my one year mark and arrived at the half way house on my 1 year 1 day mark. But again, no one could answer why - and even though someone does know why - I will never know. So I left it as "everything happens for a reason" and moved on and quit trying to find answers.

So know what's out there - what people are being given and how to go about getting it for yourself. No one in prison is going to give you anything unless you ask for it. You yourself are your best - and most likely only - advocate. So start early, know the trends, what's been done at your institution in the past, what's done at other institutions - knowledge is power and sometimes will work to your advantage.  Keep you head up and don't get discouraged - nothing comes easy in the "system" - but we all will get through it.

- Freckles

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As always, Freckles provides much needed prospective on life in the HWH and this experience of trying to maximize time in the HWH and in home confinement is no different. We all know how much running around I did to get myself out of Carswell and Freckles was on my heels. I think she may have set a record for getting them to budge from the initial time they were offering her to what she actually got because of the research she did and her self-advocacy. Life in a halfway house is no picnic, but being close to home, working, seeing family and friends, and starting to earn time at home really makes a difference in your life. Thanks Freckles for another great update!!!!